You Had My Heart At Least for the Most Part

“Zach!” I heard my Mother’s shrill voice call up to me since I was still sleeping in my comfortable, warm bed. “Zach! Get up!”

I groaned, feeling like I did back in high school when she would yell for me to wake up in the morning. I was a grown man and my mother still hollered for me to get up. I rubbed my eyes and sat up in my bed. I had a few days off from touring and I decided to stay with my parents since they needed help with some things around the house. Zina and Mike finally found an apartment in L.A. I got out of bed once I finished stretching and made my way to the shower. I washed my hair and my body then walked back into my bed room. I changed then jogged down the steps to the kitchen where my Mom was cooking. “Finally.” She glanced at the clock that was blinking 11:03.

“I stayed up late last night.” I laughed and sat down at the kitchen table.

“Zina and Mike should be here soon,” my Mother explained as she scraped eggs onto my plate. “I invited them over for brunch.”

“It’ll be nice to see them again." I said taking a bite of my toast.

Soon everyone, including Matt and Tara, came over. “Oh, Vanessa!” I heard my Mother shout, throwing her arms around the unexpected guest. Hearing the name almost made me spit out my orange juice. I looked over and there she was, hugging my Mother.

“Hi Mrs. Baker.” She smiled sweetly. She changed a whole lot. Her hair was cut to her shoulders and her make up was more subtle. She reminded me a lot of Claire, actually. Their eyes were almost identical. She look beautiful. Well, she always did. But especially today.

She looked over and saw me, then looked back at my Mom smiling. What was she doing here anyways? After the whole bar thing, I expected her to stay away from me. She knew I would be here, too. My heart started to pound as she walked over to the table. Vanessa took a seat right across from me, staring me down. “Hey.” she said quietly.

I gulped. “Hey.” She was so beautiful I couldn’t believe it. I looked at her face as she turned to smile at my parents and talk to Zina. Then I remembered her face that night at the bar when Claire kissed me. I needed to get to the bottom of this. I needed to know what was really going on.

Brunch was awful. My stomach was in my throat, which made it hard for me to eat. Vanessa and I kept glancing at each other. I blushed every single time she did. I felt the same way I did when I first saw her. Only this time she wasn’t sucking faces with my best friend. She looked up from her plate, catching me staring at her. I laugh a little and looked down at my plate. I was being ridiculous.

After brunch I got up from the table to go get my stuff together. I was leaving tomorrow and I had to get all my things packed. As I walked down the hallway to my room, I heard someone whisper my name. I turned and looked around confused. I didn’t see anyone. It was too dark, I guess. “Hello?”

Suddenly hands grabbed me by shirt and pulled me into a room. Their lips pressed hard against mine. I didn’t have to open my eyes to figure out who it was. I knew these lips. They pushed me back against the wall roughly and deepened the kiss instantly. I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her closer against my body. I felt her hands slide down my torso to the end of my shirt. She slipped her hands under my shirt and rubbed my sides. I moaned softly, not able to hold it in.

A few minutes passed by, until I finally had the self control to pull away. I opened my eyes as I tried to catch my breath. I saw Vanessa looking up at me. “You have no idea how many times I’ve wanted to do that,” she said breathlessly.

“Vanessa,” I held her back as she went in to kiss my again.

“What Zacky?” She sighed.

“Tell me what is going on. I can’t keep doing this.” I held her away by her shoulders.

She just sighed and looked away from my eyes. “Vanessa,” I said again wanting to know what was on her mind.

“I like you, Zacky,” she told me, obviously frustrated with herself.

My eyes widened and I looked at her. “What?” I asked in almost a whisper.

“I like you!” She shouted and sat on the edge of the bed. “Ever since that one night, I’ve had this strange feeling every time I heard your name or saw you.” she sighed. “A few weeks ago when you saw me with Brian, it wasn’t supposed to be like that. That’s not why I came over. I saw him and I asked if I could go with him to the bus. He got the wrong impression.”

Could I believe her? “Then why didn’t you pull away?” I posed.

“I don’t know.” She sighed and looked down. “I was just thinking about everything and I wasn’t focused on what was happening.”

“But you told me before it was only lust. Why do you keep doing this, Vanessa?” I asked frustrated.

“I really like you, Zacky! I don’t know what else to tell you!” She stood up.

“Why do you tell me now that I found someone else? You knew the whole time I have liked you! And you decide to tell me at my parents house that you have feelings for me?” I hollered.

“Yes! I had no other time to tell you! Zina invited me over and I figured I’d tell you!”

Our faces were inches apart. I couldn’t take it. I grabbed her by her shoulders and kissed her hard. Finally I had her and this meant something to her. I heard a knock at the door and I pulled away. “Zacky?” a girl asked quietly.

It was Claire. I groaned quietly and watched as Vanessa walked quietly to the bed. I opened the door a little and saw Claire smiling. “Hey.”

I slipped out of the room and closed it behind me. “What are you doing here?” I asked with a smile.

“I came to see you,” she smiled, “and to apologize for the other night.”

“Oh,” I said hesitantly, “you don’t have to.”

“Yes I do.” She sighed and looked down at her feet. “Do you think we could talk over dinner, maybe?” Claire looked back up at me with a hopeful smile.

“Um, I’m busy tonight actually,” I lied, “but we could go out tomorrow.” I smiled as best as I could. Someone else was on my mind right now.

“Oh.” She sighed and looked down sadly. I could tell she really wanted to be with me. And I knew I liked her once I had gotten over Vanessa. I had to give her a fair chance.

“Well, never mind. We can go out tonight.” I smiled sweetly at her.

She looked back into my eyes and smiled. “Great. I’ll see you around six?”

“Six it is.” I smiled and watched her wave as she walked down the hallway to the steps to meet up with my parents and Zina.

I heard the door open and turned to see Vanessa step out. Her arms were crossed and she was looking at the ground. “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on, Zach.”

I sighed and looked away from her gorgeous, tempting body. I stared at the wall, contemplating a nice way to let her know I liked two girls at once. “It’s complicated.”

“Give me a straight answer. Cause I just admitted I had feelings for you and you go off and make plans with another girl.”

“You told me at the wrong time, Vanessa.” I sighed. “You knew I was seeing Claire.”

“So?” she dropped her arms and looked up at me. “I want you, Zacky. I’m saying what you want, so why don’t you forget her?”

“Cause it’s not that easy!” I shouted.

“You have to pick! It’s either me or Claire.” She was getting angry and in some odd way, it was turning me on. “Cause I can’t do this.”

I leaned in to kiss her since my body wanted her. But she slipped away from me and walked away. I sighed and leaned back into the wall where she was standing. “God damn it.” I groaned. I liked two girls and I wanted to be with both of them. I don’t know what to do, as always.